Monday, July 16, 2007

Another political puppet

I normally don't blog about political things, at least directly. But here is a fascinating news item straight from our daily newspaper. Our newest candidate for mayor has been denied a spot on the ballot. Supporters are holding a rally for him today.

Mr. Nice, a puppet, denied spot on Duluth ballotDuluth News Tribune, Published Monday, July 16, 2007There will be a rally for perhaps Duluth’s most unusual mayoral “candidate” to date, a blue puppet named Mr. Nice. “We feel like we’re being marginalized by the mainstream media and political establishment,” said one of Mr. Nice’s assistants, Allen Richardson, who does not necessarily condone what Mr. Nice stands for.

Because Mr. Nice has been told he can’t be on the ballot — mainly because he’s a piece of art, not a real person — his supporters plan to come out in force Tuesday to rally on his behalf.

{Here they had a photo of him, but it didn't upload. Go and check him out on his MySpace page}

But it’s not just about how he looks. “Mr. Nice’s sensational proposals to legalize gangsterism in order to fund more police to keep our communities safer, and to sell fighter jet parts from the air base to Iran to offset the retiree healthcare crisis, have led to a vast centrist conspiracy which intends to keep the people’s candidate off the ballot,” according to a statement from Nice’s press office.

This is why he plans to hold a rally led by “chubby white Lutherans” at 4:20 p.m. Tuesday at the fountain in Duluth’s Civic Center. Free “Mr. Nice For Mayor” T-shirts will be provided and protest signs will be available.

“The polls are showing this election is going to be decided by the arts community,” Richardson said, which is why he thinks a living piece of artwork has a lot of potential at the polls.

City Clerk Jeff Cox's response to Mr. Nice was terse and to the point. “He described what he wanted to do,” Cox said. “Like I told him, I feel I need to be considerate that some candidates and those in the public might feel that it is not a respectful reflection on the candidate filing process,” he said. Cox declined to go into further detail on the controversy.

If Tuesday’s protestors don’t shame the city into allowing Mr. Nice on the ballot, he’ll take more extreme measures, Richardson warned. “If he has to run a stealth campaign, then by jiminy, that’s what he’s going to do,” Richardson said.

Would you vote for a puppet mayor: would you vote for Mr. Nice if you lived here? He's really one of our best candidates, although I don't agree with his sensational proposals. The other candidates have proposals almost as strange: for example, putting a swamp as a tourist attraction on our bayfront. Our tourist tag-line could be, "Come and be bitten by a Minnesota mosquito!" We already joke about them being our state bird.